Teen Cthulhu

I have tried to make a hack of Call of Cthulhu which lets you play teenagers in the 1990s, heavily inspired by Things From the Flood. It owes a good deal to Pulp Cthulhu as well, and uses some of the Pulp Talents and Luck rules.

How to roll up a teen.

STRength 1D6+8 x 5

CONstitution 1D6+8 x 5

SIZe 1D6+8 x 5

INTelligence 1D6+8 x 5

APPearance 1D6+8 x 5

POWer 1D6+8 x 5

EDUcation 1D6+8 x 5

Choose one of these as your Prime Attribute and that one is rolled 1D6+12.

LUCK 2D6+6 x 5

Luck works the same way as it does in Pulp Cthulhu. The same goes for derived characteristics.

Then choose a role. The role determines your ‘occupational’ skills as well as the Pulp Talents available to you. Note that none of them are combat talents. While kids can and do fight, they’re not generally all that good at it. (New Pulp Talents are marked with an asterisk).

Credit Rating isn’t a suggestion here, it’s what your teen gets. You don’t have that much clout or cash. You may have rich parents, but to get them to bankroll your scooby-doo lifestyle requires some roleplaying.

Artist

You are born to express what’s in your soul through a certain medium. Maybe Kurt Cobain sparked this realization, maybe it was 2pac or the work of Ansel Adams. Other things tend to fall by the wayside in favor of your guitar, your notebooks or you camera.

Occupation skill points: EDU × 2 + (DEX × 2 or POW × 2).

Credit Rating: 10%

Suggested contacts: Band mates, the photo club, your English teacher

Skillls: Art/Craft (Choose), Two interpersonal skills (Charm, Fast Talk, Intimidation, Persuade), Electrical Repair, Occult, Psychology, Spot Hidden. One other skill as a personal specialty.

Talent: Choose between:

Keen Eye

Keen Hearing

Lore

Computer geek

You ARE the future. You understand stuff that older people still fret about and you’re a respected citizen of a world of information. If only the rest of your life could be like that...

Occupation skill points: EDU × 4 OR EDU × 2 + INT × 2

Credit Rating: 20%

Suggested contacts: Other geeks, people on the BBS, hacker types with corny user names, Big Lars at the comic book store.

Skillls: Computer Use, Electrical Repair, Library Use, Listen, Other Language, Science (e.g. chemistry, physics, geology, etc.), Spot Hidden. One other skill as a personal specialty.

Talent: Choose between:

Lore

Handy (with Computer Use in place of Operate Heavy Machinery)

It’s All Zeroes and Ones*

Gearhead

Things can always go faster, and it is fun to take them apart to see how to make them. You always dragged your sled up the steepest hill (and spent most of spring wearing a cast). Pop psychologists might ask what you’re trying to get away from, but moving fast is a reason in itself.

Occupation skill points: EDU × 2 + DEX × 2.

Credit Rating: 15%

Suggested contacts: Uncle who’s a mechanic, juvenile delinquents turning main street into a drag strip at night, shop class teacher.

Skillls: Art / Craft (Welding, body work, paint jobs or other relevant specialties), Climb, Drive Auto, Electrical Repair, Mechanical Repair, Operate Heavy Machinery, any two other skills as personal specialties.

Talent: Choose between:

Handy

Resourceful

Hell on Wheels*

Jock

Some of the best lessons in life you learn on the team and the field. You make friends, you learn discipline, focus and sportsmanship. Nothing you learn in class can be as important as that, right?

Occupation skill points: EDU × 2 + (DEX × 2 or STR × 2).

Credit Rating: 20%

Suggested contacts: Coach, the guys on the team, cheerleader captain.

Skillls: Climb, Jump, Fighting (Brawl), one interpersonal skill (Charm, Fast Talk, Intimidate, or Persuade), Swim, Throw, any two other skill as a personal or era specialty.

Talent: Choose between:

Endurance

Power lifter

Tough gal/guy

Late bloomer

You’re young for your age. All the stuff with sex and drinking and things just hasn’t really hit you yet. There’s nothing wrong with pretending or playing, even if it stings when someone calls you a ‘fucking baby’.

Occupation skill points: EDU × 2 + (APP × 2 or POW × 2).

Credit Rating: 15%

Suggested contacts: Big Lars at the comic book store, the old lady next door, the hobo with the nice dog.

Skillls: Library use, one interpersonal skill (Charm, Fast Talk, or Persuade but not Intimidate), Other Language, Own Language, any four other skills as personal specialties.

Talent: Choose between:

Innocent Face*

Photographic Memory

One of the Great Unwashed*

Outsider

You don’t fit in. You don’t have the money, the cool parents or the social graces. Maybe there is something downright strange in you, something in your blood. Either way you’ve spend a lot of time alone, or with others who also don’t fit in.

Occupation skill points: EDU × 2 + (DEX × 2 or POW × 2)

Credit Rating: 05%

Suggested contacts: The druggy kids down by the underpass, the trailer park manager, the guy in black from some government agency that doesn’t exist.

Skillls: Climb, Jump, Listen, Sleight of Hand, one interpersonal skill (Charm, Fast Talk, Intimidate, or Persuade), Stealth, any other skill as personal specialty.

Talent: Choose between:

Animal Companion

Hardened

Psychic Power

Party animal

You know where the good time is at, ‘cos it’s where YOU happen to be. You have the key to dad’s liqour cabinet, the fake ID and the vacant perfect for an impromptu rave. Why can’t you just party all the time?

Occupation skill points: EDU × 2 + (APP × 2 or CON × 2).

Credit Rating: 15%

Suggested contacts: Weed dealer, liquour store clerk, the janitor who looks the other way, party people.

Skillls: Fighting (Brawl), three interpersonal skills (Charm, Fast Talk, Intimidate, or Persuade), Psychology, Stealth. any two other skill sas personal specialties.

Talent: Choose between:

Iron Liver

Smooth Talker

Stout Constitution

Popular

Popular is a weird thing to be you know. You not exactly loved or feared but kind of a little of both. A little resentment too. Why ARE you so popular?

Occupation skill points: EDU × 2 + (APP × 2 or POW × 2).

Credit Rating: 35%

Suggested contacts: Cool kids, fancy clothing store manager, coach at the country club, bitchy grandmother.

Skillls: Appraise, Art/Craft (any), two interpersonal skills (Charm, Fast Talk, Intimidate, or Persuade), Other Language, Psychology, Ride.

Talent: Choose between:

All Eyes on Me!*

Smooth Talker

Strong Willed

Seeker

The world is so much stranger than they teach you in school. In fact there are great big holes in science and history if you don’t factor in the strange. There is weirdness in our own town, things they tell you are best left alone. Things are only ‘best left alone’ if you’re hoping to keep everyone stupid and scared.

Occupation skill points: EDU × 2 + POW × 2.

Credit Rating: 10%

Suggested contacts: Occult book store owner, librarian, the spooky college dropout who lives in a van, faith leader.

Skillls: Anthropology, History, Library Use, one interpersonal skill (Charm, FastTalk, Intimidate, or Persuade), Occult, Other Language, Science (Astronomy), any one other skills as a personal specialty. With the Keeper’s agreement, may include Cthulhu Mythos (with an advised starting maximum of 20%).

Talent: Choose between:

Arcane Insight

Mythos Knowledge

Resilient

New Pulp Talents

All Eyes on Me!

If you can provide a substantial social distraction, you can pass up to 20 points of Luck to another hero in the same location.

Hell on Wheels

Reduces difficulty by one level or gains bonus die (at the Keeper’s discretion) when rolling Drive Auto (or other motorized vehicle).

Innocent Face

Reduces difficulty by one level or gains bonus die (at the Keeper’s discretion) when using Charm, Fast Talk or Persuade, if your youth works in your favor.

It’s All Zeroes and Ones

Spend 5 Luck to use your Computer Use in place of Credit Rating.

One of the Great Unwashed

You may spend 10 Luck to be written off as just a kid/the paper boy/the help/an innocent bystander.